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Kabir Khan’s workshop atop Kabul Express - Part 3 (Tete-tete with Kabir)

Here’s continuing from the Baiscope workshop with Kabir khan from article 1 and article 2 …

After the Documentary TYB screening, Kabir talked about his background first .. and then fielded some questions …

I was an avid traveller,mountaineer,adventurer. My trips to the mountains and the beauty made me get intrested in photography. I did my economics graduation and then did a course in Mass Comm Research Center Jamia Millia Islamia which got me into visual media. I started doing freelance cinematography. My first big documentary was The forgotten Army which was shot in Burma over 10 months of research. Then I continued doing documentaries and in 2001, shot TYB.

For KE, I started shooting half a scene in one location and the next day when I came onto the location, it had changed… coz it had been bombed overnight !! It happened so often. I had to shoot the remaining half of the scene elsewhere… There were bullet marks in the walls of the houses. The country has been crippled by 25 years of War. I couldnt have recreated it elsewhere.

There were no sets, it was all outdoor locations. I wanted to capture the location… the terrain.

Q)Are you trying to make any political statement by making this film ???

A)I’m not trying to make any political statement by making this film. Yes the backdrop is political. The idea is to show the futilities of artifical boundaries. The attempt is to tell a compelling story. Political comments are there in the film, but that’s not the aim. If you find them, good. Otherwise no problem.

Q)Were you employed by YashRaj Films ???

A) Production was handled by us. They wouldn’t have been able to do it. My self, my friends in Kabul etc, handled the hands on production. The larger issues like Finance, Marketing, Distribution, Dates etc were handled by YRF. We were the line producers for KE

Q)What is the budget ???

A)The production budget is 8 crore rupees. It is very small by YRF standards, but very big for an indepenmdent film maker like me.

Q)Is this the way forward for Independent Film makers ??? to approach big studios for production ??

A)The common practise in the industry is that if you get a star, no one cares for your story. It is great from there on.

I’ve no connections in films. My dad was a professor in JNU university. My wife an MTV VJ. I’ve made it on my own terms. Yes there is a way forward.Things are changing. Iqbaal was produced by Subhash Ghai. If big studios start picking up small-different films, things will improve soon.

KE is a test case. If it succeds, then things might be better. Else perhaps the people in YRF might say to Aditya Chopra “Ho gaya aapka ?? Let’s get back to our style of filmaking (candyfloss romance)”

Q) What were the security problems that you faced in filming KE ???

A) There is a great amount of goodwill of Indians in Afghanistan. The notion that Afghans are hostile to Indians is false !! It’s not the Afghans but the Talibans who are hostile (to everyone) !! The people of Afghanistan stood between me and the Talibans (who wanted to disrupt shooting), and therefore literally saved my film.

In afghanistan, every 50 kms is ruled by Warlords. There is no ‘paper permisssion’ Even if you have a paper permission by the president of Afghanistan, the warlord may look at it and throw it away. His ‘approval’ is the permission. We went and met different warlords.They not just approved but also SENT THEIR HENCHMEN TO THE SETS FOR SECURITY..AND SOME OF THESE ARE ALSO IN THE FILM !!

The key is to know whom to ask what ???

Q) What was the research that you did for TYB ??

A) Nov 2001 the taliban regime had collapsed after 5 years of ruling. I was there around that time and we were shooting TYB for 60-70 days. The budget was approx 60-70 thousand USD. Even 1 mineral Water bottle costed us 5%. It was a very expensive place. The place was in shambles and curfew had been imposed.

(On a sidetrack - he said that the shots of the afghan women being beaten up in public by a talibani were taken by a woman who had a hidden camera. It is free footage avaialable from RAWA - Revolutionary Afghan Women Association)

DV Cam is the best to be used for documentaries. 2 Men crew … it was just perfect. We didn’t have any other crew members.

There was no research possible for TYB. Till you get there, you don’t know what is going on. Things were happening on a daily basis. The game of Burkshi (Horse driven by men fighting for a dead lamb) was shot imprmoptu, because it just happened one fine day.We simply went and covered it.

We were helped because we were Indians, but you need to know where to draw the line.

Q) What was the starting point for KE ???

I remember during the shooting of TYB, we were staying in a prison because there were no guest houses and it was the safest place around. There was a river nearby.

One fine day we were done with the shooting etc there, we bade goodbye and were going to other destination. We were close to the river when an Afghan (strapping, bearded, rifled, deadly looking) came from the prison towards us and said he wanted to use our satellite phones. We were skeptical to give it to him but gave it anyway.. a little nervously.

THAT MAN DIALLED UP SOMEONE, AND WITHING SECONDS , HE STARTED CRYING ON THE PHONE !!

When enquired, he said that he had not spoken to his family in the past 5 years, and when he called his family, his daughter had picked up the phone. He couldn’t hold back his tears.

That was the starting point for Kabul Express.

Q) The first perception of Indians in Afghanistan ??

A)Indian (Hindi) Films are very popular there. They are a dominant influence there. The first thing they ask you whent they know you are an Indian is about SRK … AB ??? They ask you to sing filmy songs etc !!

When Garam Masala was released on friday, it’s copy was avaailable on the streets of Kabul on SATURDAY (it had come from Dubai etc)!!!

John and Arshad’s films were being shown all the time in the theaters during the shooting of KE. Hundresds of people came to see John.We were shooting the Burkshi scene on the Jalalabad Khyber road. People used to come from there and used to take autographs and get their photos clicked with John Abraham.

Then we got security threats. The Talibans were probably sending spies from that road to keep an eye on the shooting. They issued death threats because if a film shooting is happening, then this sends the message that the situation is normal, which is what the Talibans didn’t want.

I had nearly announce pack up and decided to put the film on hold. Then the security minister came up to us and said “If you pack up, it is defeat for Afghanistan. Please complete your film”
He gave us maximum security perhaps which the president would get. 5 kms before the shoot, secuirty had started frisking and searching the mob, which used to come daily during the sets, to see the shooting.

After the security was applied, suddenly there was no mob to come and take autographs !!

The Northern Afghanistan is more friendly as compared to South Taliban because the Taliban is lesser there.

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Well that was the end of Q&As and the workshop. As usual people had started gheraoing Kabir khan. Luckily I managed to have a Tete-tete with him.

I approached when he was alone and told him about myself and how I am also from Jamia. Then I talked about PFC, and how filmakers like Pawan kaul, Suparn Verma, Anurag Kashyap have started blogging on PFC. His eyes literally lit up when I mentioned the word ‘cinema fanatics’ !!
I showed him the newspaper cuttings of Anurag’s articles and media mentions of PFC. He said

“YES JOHN WAS TELLING ME ABOUT IT !!! I WOULD LOVE TO START A KABUL EXPRESS DIARY ON PFC”

I gave him a print out of the site and told him how to contact Oz. I also gave him my email address.

Well well well… he still hasnt contacted me yet nor Oz… Perhaps he might be real busy with the post production of KE. Anyways … hopefully he would do that soon !!

(Concluded)

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